Please Enjoy A Liberal MP’s Incredible Backflip After Realising She Was Slamming Her Own Party

Backflips are truly a spectacular aerobic feat, especially when performed in the pursuit of politics. Today, the somersault of the day goes to Liberal MP and Minister for Defence Industry Linda Reynolds, who had to be gently reminded live on air that the policy she was busy attacking was actually her own government’s.

The blunder occurred on Sky News on Sunday, after Reynolds was asked whether she agreed that “flexibility in wages and keeping wages at a relatively modest level is a deliberate feature of our economic architecture, to actually drive jobs growth”.

Reynolds, naturally, got straight into the time-honoured Liberal Party strategy of blaming Bill Shorten for being a doofus. “No, absolutely not,” she said. “And for Bill Shorten to even suggest that I think is outrageous — it shows a fundamental lack of understanding about economics.”

All well and good, except that Bill Shorten didn’t actually make those comments. As interviewer David Speers interrupted Reynolds to clarify, “I’m actually quoting Mathias Cormann, the finance minister. Your colleague.” He then re-read the quote to Reynolds, who responded with “ah, he’s absolutely right”.

Now who’s showing a fundamental lack of understanding about economics? Then again, the Liberal Party has made itself incredibly easy to roast these days. You can watch the full clip below.